Opera-chair



(No Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

T. W. EATON.

OPERA 01mm.

Patented Oct. 27,1885."

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UNITED STATES P TENT tribe.

THoMAs w. EATON, OF oHIoAeO, ASSIGNOB OF ONE-HALF To JOHN F. EATON, or CAMBRIDGE, ILLINOIS.

OPERA-CHAIR;

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 329,151, dated October 27, 1885.

Application filed October 29, 1884.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, THOMAS W. EATON, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State f Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Opera-Chairs; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in opera and other folding chairs, and more particularly to that class of such chairs shown and described in an application for patent filed by me upon the 27th day of December, 1883, in which a spring is applied to throw the seat upwardly or into its folded position, and in which devices are provided for temporarily holding the seat in its horizontal position against the action of the spring, said devices being so constructed that the seat will be released by the application of downward pressure thereto, and thereby permitted to rise by the action of the spring upon the removal of such pressure.

This invention embraces improved features of construction in chairs of the character above stated; and it consists in the matters hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

The invention will be more readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of an operachair constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a central vertical section of the same, taken upon line 00 a: of Fig. 1.

vation.

Fig. 3 is a detail section taken upon line or w of Fig. 2, showing the parts of the holding device attached to the chair-frame in front ele- Fig. 4 is a fragmentary bottom view of the rear part of the chair-seat, showing the parts of the holding devices which are attached thereto. Figs. Sand 6 are perspective views of the holding device, illustrat- Fi 7 is a view of the chair-seat provided with a weight, instead of a spring, for throwing it upwardly.

As shown in the drawings, A A are side Serial No. 146,741. (No model.)

frames or standards of an opera-chair, generally of the usual construction. A is the back thereof, and B is a seat, which is pivot-ally connected near its rear edge with the standards A, whereby it may be folded upwardly against the back A when the chair is not in use. A spring, 0, is attached to astationary part connected with one of the standards A, and is connected at its free end to the seat B in such manner as will tend to throw the front edge of the said seat upwardly and backwardly, and to thereby retain said seat in a vertical position.

In the particular form of chair herein illustrated the seat B consists of a foundationboard, B, provided with a snitably-upholstered covering, to the under surface of which board, at either side thereof, are secured two downwardly-projecting metal brackets, b, atfording bearings for pivot-pins a in the standards, by which the seat is supported.

The spring 0 is preferably made of spiral form, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, and is placed about a cylinder, 0, which is attached to one of the stationary pivot-pins a, said spring being connected at one end to the cylinder by means of a lug, c',upon the cylinder, engaged with the hook c of the spring, and having its opposite projecting end, 0', extended forwardly, so as to press upwardly against the under surface of the seat, the said spring and cylinder being constructed substantially in the manner described and shown in the application above referred to.

D is a laterally-movable detent, preferably constructed in the form of an arm pivoted by means of a stud, d, to the lower surface of the board B, and arranged to project at its free end at the rear of the seat, and in position to engage a relatively long and narrow cam plate or projection, E, attached to a downwardlyprojecting part or lug, A cast upon the lower cross-piece, A of the chair-frame, and provided upon its opposite sides with cam-faces E E adapted for engagement with the end of the detent when the seat is moved. The front surface of the cam-plate E, and also, preferably, that of the projection A are curved downwardly and forwardly, concentric with move in either direction from the position in which it is normally held by the said spring, and the cam-plate E is arranged obliquely across the path described by the end of the detent D when the seat is swung on its pivot,

the upper and lower ends of said cam-plate being arranged at opposite sides'of the said path, so that when the detent is at the upper limit of its movement and is thrown downwardly it will engage one side of the plate, and when at the lower limit of its movement it Will,when started upwardly, engage the opposite side of the plate, the detent being free to move laterally in either direction, so that in striking the inclined surface of the plate it will be moved thereby until it has passed the lower or upper end tl1ereof,when it will return to its normal position, as indicated in dotted lines in Figs. 3 and 6. By this construction it is obvious that in the upward and downward movement of the detent the latter will pass first over one side of the cam-plate and then over the opposite side,whereby each time the seat is raised and lowered the detent will pass entirely around the said plate. In the upper end of said cam-plate is formed a notch, e,whioh is located adjacent to the under side,'E, of the plate, or that over which the detent passes in moving upwardly, said notch being formed by a lower horizontal surface, 6, adapted to hold the detent from downward movement, and a verticalface, 6 against which the side of the detent is adapted to bear under the action of the spring D when the detent is engaged with the notch, as clearly shown in Fig. 5. By this arrangement of the notch it is obvious that the said detent, upon reaching the upper end of the face E of the plate in the upward movement of the detent over the said face,will be moved by the spring laterally over the surface e of the notch until it encounters and is arrested by the vertical surface 0 If, in throwing the seat downward, the movement of the seat is stopped and the seat released, when the detent is in'position to engage the notch the contactof the detent with the face 6 of the notch will prevent the upward movement of the front of the seat under the action of the spring 0, and said seat will be thereby retained in its horizontal position, the parts at this time being in the position shownin Fig. 5. The detent will, however, when, engaged with the notch as above described, beheld by the vertical face 6 of the notch laterally away from its central position, in opposition to the action of the spring D, so thatsaid detent will at such time press forcibly against the said face "e of the notch.

The parts being in the position described, and shown in Fig. 5, it is obvious that, if the outer end of the seat is still furtherdepressed, so as to lift the detent past the surface 6 and out of the notch, the said detent, upon being released from said surface, will return to its central position over the inclined surface E of the cam-plate E, as indicated in dotted lines in Figs. 3 and 5, so that when the seat is raised by the action of the spring 0, said detent will strike the said inclined surface E and will be deflected laterally by said surface, so as to allow the seat to freely rise. The opposite cam-faces, E E of the plate E are preferably, but not necessarily, brought to a point at the lower endof the plate, so as to lessen the amount of lateral travel in the detent necessary to enable it to pass around the said plate.

Suitable stops, G and H, upon the seat and frame, respectively, are provided for supporting the seat when in its horizontal position, said stops being arranged to permita sufficient downward movement of the seat from the position in which the detent is engaged with the notch e to cause the release of the detent from the said notch, as above described.

By the construction above set forth it is obvious that the seat may be thrown downwardly by the hand and held in horizontal position by the engagement of the detent of the projection until a person has seated himself thereon, when, by the downward movement of the outer edge of the seat, caused by the weight of the person, the detent will become disengaged from the notch,and will remain in position to allow the seat to rise upon the removal of the weight of the person therefrom.

As herein shown, a rubber spring, F, operating in the same manner as the similar spring shown in theapplication above referred to, is located between the projection G upon the seat and the opposing projection H upon the chair frame, said spring, as fully described in said application, being for the purpose of arresting the downward movement of the chainseat when the detent comes in position for engagement with the notch e, the said spring being adapted to yield upon considerable additional pressure being applied to the seat, so as to permit the disengagement of the said detent from the notch, in the manner before described. In the particular construction herein illustrated, the spring F is composed of a block of rubber which is inserted in a recess, it, formed in the under side of the lug or projection H, which is preferably cast upon cross-bar A of the chair-frame, and the projection G is formed upon the-end of a metal bar, G, which is bolted or otherwise secured to the under surface of the board B of the seat.

The spring D, as herein shown and preferably made, is formed of a flat piece or strip of spring metal, which is rigidly secured at one end to the detent D, and is held in its opposite outer end between two pins, 11, fixed in the under surface of the chair-seat. This form of spring has the obvious advantages of being cheap and simple, and at the same time of being free from objectionable noise in its operation. In order to prevent the occurrence of a sharp noise or click at the time the detent passes into the notch e from the cam-surface E of the projection E, the vertical face 6 of said notch is, as herein shown, provided with a block, a of leather, rubber, or other similar substance suitably secured in place by being inserted in a recess in the said vertical face of the notch, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 8.

It is obviously not essential to the operation of the cam-plate E and the laterally-movable detent in the manner described that the parts mentioned should be located upon the chairframe and seatin the particular manner shown. The plate may, for instance, be located upon the seat, and the movable detent upon the chair-frame; or the said plate may be secured to one of the seat-standards of the chairframe, with its front face in aplane parallel with the plane of rotation of the seat, the detent in such case obviously being located at the side of the seat, and at right angles to the position in which it is herein shown. It is obviously immaterial, also, as to the particular construction in the detent and the manner in which it is supported in order to permit lateral movement therein, and the said detent may be arranged to slide in suitable guides, instead of being pivoted, and when pivoted it may be adapted to swing in a vertical, instead of a horizontal, plane, or otherwise, as desired.

Instead of the spring 0, a Weight, I, as shown in Fig. 7, may be employed to throw the seat upwardly.

The particular construction of the detent and projections herein shown affords obvious advantages in point of simplicity and cheapness, and such construction, therefore, is made the subject of specific claims herein.

It will be understood that the devices herein shown illustrate one preferred means of carrying out the invention shown and described in the application filed by me and before referred to, and that the matters set forth in this application are covered by the broad claims of the application above mentioned.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination,with a chair-frame and pivoted seat, of a spring or weight applied to throw the seat upwardly, a laterally-movable spring-detent upon the seat, and a cam-plate upon the chair-frame, provided with laterallyinclined side faces, and having a notch in its upper end adapted for engagement with the detent, whereby the seat will be held in its horizontal position against the force of the spring, and will be released by a further downward movement from such horizontal position, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination,with a chair-frame and pivoted seat, of a spring or weight applied to throw the seat upwardly, a laterally-movable spring-detent upon the seat, a cam-plate upon the chair-frame provided with laterally-inclined side faces, and a notch in its upper end adapted for engagement with the detent, so as to hold the seat from upward movement when the latter is horizontal, and a spring located between the seat and a part of the frame, adapted to arrest the downward movement of the seat in position for the engagement of the detent with the notch, and to permit said seat to yield downwardly under pressure applied thereto, so as to cause the disengagement of the detent from the notch, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination,with a chair-frame and pivoted seat, of alaterally-movable spring-detent pivoted upon the lower surface of the seat and projecting rearwardly therefrom, and a cam-plate located upon the rear face of the frame in position for engagement with the detent, and provided with laterally-inclined side faces and wit-h a notch in its upper end, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4.. The combination,with a chair-frame and a pivoted seat, of a detent, D, pivoted upon the lower surface of the seat, a leaf-spring, D, attached to the detent and held at its free end upon the seat by pins d or their equivalent, and a cam-plate, E, upon the chair-frame, having inclined side faces and provided with a notch, e, at its upper end, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. The combination,with a chair-frame and pivoted seat, of a laterally-movable spring-detent, D, upon the seat, a cam-plate, E, upon the frame, provided with inclined side faces, and having a notch, e, at its upper end, and a block, 6 of leather or similar. material, secured in or to the vertical face of the notch, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I affix my signaturein presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS W. EATON.

Witnesses:

G. CLARENCE POOLE, OLIVER E. PAGIN. 

